


A Game of Shadows

by HatakeSun



Series: A Song of Hyōton and Katon [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Game of Thrones Fusion, Baby Bijuu, Blatantly Wrong Facts, Canon Character's Names that aren't in any way Related to Canon Character, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, Gen, Ignoring Canon on a Whim, Inspired by Game of Thrones, M/M, More Semi-Colons than are Probably Necessary, Multi, Non-Canonical Character Death, Poorly Translated Japanese because It Sounds Cool, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Smut, Totally ripping off GoT
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 09:26:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18825844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HatakeSun/pseuds/HatakeSun
Summary: "When you play the game of Shadows, you either win, or lose everything."





	A Game of Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I will talk a bit about the way this story is going to work next time a post a chapter, bear with me?
> 
>  
> 
> Hogo-sha = Guardian/Protector; Shugonin = Guardian Ninja  
> “Shugonin” is the title of people who are members of the Hogo-sha, so yeah, they are basically the guardian ninja of guardians but the words sound and look cool more than make actual sense, I think (Harry Potter gets away with tons of nonsense words so give me this, at least).  
> Yoro means night, so Yorogakure is the Village Hidden by Night (SUCH creative, MUCH original), and is where the Hogo-sha and it's Shugonin reside (They're the night's watch, obviously). The leader or commander of the Hogo-sha is called Yorofū meaning sealer of night, kind of. A Fū is a lesser Kage, they are meant to 'seal' or protect areas that belong to the different lands, like a warden or vassal (or bannermen). The Yorofū is a bit different in that he isn't ruled by a specific Kage.  
> Shukun means lord or master, because it would be weird for Naruto people to be going around saying 'my lord' I think so this will come into play along with the -sama honorific instead of that.  
> -mura means village, whereas -gakure means hidden village (again, kind of). So regular towns have that suffix, mostly because it feels like it sounds so dumb to have every single place in the world called Whatevergakure.  
> Ōkoku means like, Kingdom, pretty much (also for anyone who isn't a total weeb the line on top of letters like Ō means it sounds like two of that letter in a row, so I could just write Ookoku, but that makes it seem like its 'oo' as in 'boo' rather than the 'oh-oh' sound that it is). But I'm going to use it more as a place name that encompasses all of the Hidden villages and everything that the “Subetekage” is ruler of. And here comes some more dizzying originality, Subete means everything or the entirety, so that's right. He is the “All Kage.” Wow. I amaze myself.

**A GAME OF SHADOWS**

 

**PROLOGUE**

 

“The mission is complete,” Nauma said as he stood, taking note of the impending darkness and what the loss of light would mean for his squad. “It's time we head back to the village.”

“Did you expend your chakra fighting those things? They were Chūnin level at best!” Seito allowed more than a hint of teasing to come through in his words. “Or could it be that you simply fear the very thing our dear Yorogakure is named for?”

Nauma has seen enough in his years as Hogo-sha Shugonin to ignore the jibe from the younger man. “We killed the gods-forsaken things,” he replied instead. “We return to Yoro when the mission is finished. That’s all there is to it.”

“Do you truly believe this was all of them?” Seito asked with just a hint of doubt laced within his tone that none of them were willing to put to words outright. “Is the mission truly complete? We always seem to be sent back out here to kill more.”

“Chiriku says there aren't any more, and I've never known a better sensor in all my years; before or after the Hogo-sha. I trust what he tells us.” Nauma seemed glad for the chance to pass the trying questions off on Chiriku, who would have greatly preferred to be left out of the conversation entirely.

“When I was a boy,” Chiriku said. “My mother told me that a dead enemy won’t raise a child that hates yours.”

“So never leave an enemy alive, or a child alone,” supplied Seito. “My sister told me the same shit stories Chiriku. The women in our lives are softhearted and didn't know a damned thing about the kind of foul shit that meets us beyond the gates of Yoro. These enemies never seem to die, and they don't have any fucking children. I'd not be leaving the child alive either, if they did.”

It was Nauma’s voice that cut through the silence echoing through the trees. “It's a good many hours run back to the village, if you both could keep your traps from flapping about we might be able to make it back before the True Darkness.”

Seito hmm-ed a sound of disinterest. “I'm sure we've all ran this path enough fucking times to be able to do it even while we flap our lips. So is it True Darkness alone that you fear, or does your own shadow rile you up as well, old man?”

Seito could have all the ignorance expected of a Shugonin his age, but Chiriku did not share in that bliss. Nauma has been Hogo-sha for over half his lifetime, and his ability has kept him alive much longer than most; the man might have more experience beyond the gates than the Yorofū himself. Despite the way it barely showed on Nauma's wrinkled face, Chiriku could sense the anger broiling beneath the surface for the disrespect and his wounded pride, and worse, he could sense something overly wary. He could taste in the air. Fear.

Chiriku felt it too, and it wasn't that he didn't have enough of his own experience on missions such as this one. No, in his years as Hogo-sha he'd been outside the gates nearly 50 times already. The horror stories about white monsters that couldn't be killed, who could re-grow limbs and had no fear of death came back to him so hard on his first mission that he quite literally shit himself. Today he could laugh about that just as his squad-mates had back then, but today was also different from that time. It was cold, the type that froze you to the bone, and windy. It shook the trees as if Suna and its wind users weren't on the other side of the world. Chiriku _felt_ something, and it tore down his courage and made him want to run carelessly 'til he dropped of chakra exhaustion inside the walls of Yoro. He wasn't about to share those musings with his team, however, especially not with Seito.

Seito came from a wealthy and ancient clan that could trace its' roots back to the time of the Great Sages, one of the dwindling few that still saw sending their younger sons to Yorogakure and the Hogo-sha as a thing of pride. He was barely 18 and greener than the grass, but showed up fully equipped with the best gear and weapons money could buy, all of it the pure, deep black standard to those who bore the night kanji on their headbands. Nauma had joked with the other men over drinks that Seito knew how to sharpen his blades but not dull them; it made it hard after that, since Seito's bloodline meant Chiriku and Nauma were meant to respect him as a better.

“Kazuma-sama gave us the scroll and the scroll said to track them down and kill them. We've done that, and the bastards can do whatever it is they do after we burn their damned bodies to ashes, but it's not our problem now,” Nauma said, clearly losing either his patience or composure. “Our only problem now is getting out of this cold. It's going to be a difficult run for all of us, more so if an ice storm hits. You've been in an ice storm before, Seito-sama?”

The distracted, thoughtful look on Seito's face told Chiriku to leave him well enough alone for the time being, he would speak when he was ready and it would likely be nothing pleasant. They boy was terribly inexperienced and arrogant to boot, but a rather clever little bastard nonetheless. “Are you able to sense anything now, Chiriku?” He asked. “Tell me everything. The white fuckers or a squirrel, I'd hear about both.”

Before the Hogo-sha, a time that seemed so far in the past now it felt as though he was Shugonin in the womb, Chiriku lived in the Land of Rivers just outside Kaimenmura. Kaimen-nin and their Shukun are known to be as loyal to the Tanikage as they are hateful towards the Kirijin. It was crossing between those borders with a few too many unaccounted for supplies that led Dai Yarouji, the Kaimenfū's bitter second son, to give Chiriku the choice between keeping his hands and swearing himself to the Hogo-sha; he was no longer a smuggler, but his ability to hear and not be heard did not go to waste at Yoro.

“There's nothing, Seito-sama. None of the 'white fuckers.' No squirrels either.”

“That's good then. We have a clear run back, so far as you can sense.”

“Perhaps,” Chiriku said, a bit lost in thought himself. “No squirrels, no bears, no birds. I can't sense a living thing for miles around us.” He shivered despite himself.

“There ought to be something.” Seito seemed to catch on to Chiriku’s uneasiness. “Even in this nuts-freezing cold. There ought to be something out there with enough fucking chakra for you to sense.”

Chiriku did not say that he could sense the chakra of an ant from ten yards. All three of them knew it as well as they knew this forest should be howling with life. The hooting of an owl or the strides of fleeing deer should be louder than the breeze created by their own bodies running through the trees.

“Could be a sensor-type stronger than I am out here,” Chiriku said with as much a measure of certainty as he could muster. “There are old clans bred to have Kekkei-Genkai of the sort, I've heard.”

“How many shinobi or chakra-molders have you come upon out here in your years, Nauma?” Seito turned to the old man, “aside from the whites and civilian travelers, how many are living beyond the gates of Yoro, that you know of.”

“In my 41 years we've not come across any kind of settlement, clan or otherwise, you both know it,” Nauma stated gruffly. “Only Shugonin travel this far east, and only the Zetsu come this far west. There aren't any shinobi out here better at sensing chakra than Chiriku. There _are_ no other shinobi in these gods-damnable woods.” It was unsettling to hear the whites referred to properly; no Hogo-sha wanted the reminder of why the first Shugonin had given the creatures that name.

Zetsumetsu. Extinction, destruction.

A quiet settled between the three Shugonin then. Nauma with his years of experience, Seito with his fancy weapons, and Chiriku, quieter than the wind itself, all seemed to start running just a little bit quicker.

 

 

“We’ll rest here a moment. Chiriku, come with me to find some fresh water. Nauma will stay and keep watch over our packs.”

“It's a no good plan, Seito-sama.” The fear was making Chiriku bold and insolent. “This doesn't feel right. We should push on.”

“I don't remember asking for your fucking thoughts. I gave you both orders. Now let's go, Chiriku.”

He followed the man about a mile towards the sound of running water, shivering more with the cold and his unsettled feeling at every step, until the two reached a brook. “Get up that tree Chiriku. Find out what you can from up there; tell me if you can't sense any bugs or birds above the tree line.” Chiriku nodded and took a well-worn kunai in each hand, stabbing them into the bark of the tree and using them to climb.

Once he reached the top, before even taking a look around, Chiriku heard Seito call out from down below. “Who the fucks are you?” The usual cockiness in Seito's voice was replaced by a discomforting uncertainty. Chiriku looked towards the ground instead of the skies.

Seito was answered only by the trees; branches rattled against each other and the brook water rippled towards its end.

Edo Tenseijin could not be sensed. They made no sound.

He thought perhaps he had seen something in the corner of his eye, but Chiriku couldn't be sure; he had never known a thing that could move that way without molding chakra. His fear kept his mouth shut tightly, and he tried to tell himself he was not hiding by remaining in the tree.

“Chiriku, can you sense anyone? I thought I saw someone! Fucking answer me!” Seito, Chiriku thought, the fucking prick, a boy acting a man even now.

There was no change in the air, no flare of chakra, not even footprints left behind on the ground when the man stepped out of the shadows. He was massive in stature and carried an equally massive sword. It looked as though he had dressed in the Warring States period.

Chiriku heard his young captain let go of his breath, shakily. “Tell me why you're out here,” Seito's voice cracked as if he had just begun to hit manhood. It became many degrees colder suddenly and the wind stopped completely.

The man seemed to float or glide across the ground, making less noise than a rabbit might. His sword had the shimmer of chakra coating it from hilt to tip; Chiriku should have been able to sense it, but even as his eyes watched it crackle along the length of the blade, it was as if it wasn't there at all. He dragged his finger across the blade of one of his kunai stuck in the tree to be sure, but this was no genjutsu. It was pure human instinct, a civilian could have sensed it, and Chiriku knew this enemy was much more powerful than he and Seito and old Nauma combined.

On the ground, Seito took a defensive stance and one of his shiny kunai in hand. “I won't hold back then. You're an enemy of Ōkoku, and I've sworn my life for it's people.” Chiriku could see the weapon trembling in his grasp, and thought that Seito would die. Not an arrogant boy, but a brave Shugonin, and a man.

The man paused in his advance from the shadowed woods, and when the moonlight shone on him Chiriku could see his eyes. There was no white, only pitch blackness and soulless pupils that barely caught the light. The Edo Tensei. Seito could fight until his last breath and this man would not stop, would not die. He was already dead.

From each tree save the one he was hidden in came another black-eyed man like the first. They surrounded Seito entirely, and Chiriku had not thought himself a coward until his fear of certain death kept him from calling out a warning.

The man's giant sword arced high through the air, soundless, lifeless chakra humming towards it's pointed tip as it swung down hard at Chiriku's young captain.

Seito met the blade with two kunai, crossed in front of himself in an X, and he grunted with the exertion of pushing it away. “Katon! Haisekishō!” The burning ash jutsu was a good choice, perhaps the best when surrounded and alone. It worked well against the Zetsu. As he watched Seito's hands form the tiger seal, Chiriku dared to hope. But the Edo Tenseijin were not Zetsu, and the black-eyed men walked through the ash and the fire expressionless.

The giant sword swung again, and Seito rolled, only to be grabbed and flung back towards the man by one of the others who stood around the clearing. They did not brandish weapons themselves, merely stood sentry, eerily silent and motionless. There was something about them difficult to look at, as if your eyes were unfocused, trying to tell you that nothing was there. Look away. Chiriku wondered if it was the effect of their lifeless chakra on him, being a sensor-type, and thought he should share this information when he returned to Yorogakure. The Yorofū, Kazama-sama, might believe him if no one else did. Even then, hugging the tree with his legs warmed by piss, Chiriku could not convince himself this was the reason he stayed silent while Seito fought below him alone.

Seito drew his Hogo-sha standard Wakizashi from his back. The Honor Blade. Shugonin called it by a more fitting name, The Dying Man's Sword. Chiriku watched that blade, his own having never been drawn, meet the dead man's Nodachi and expected the clash of steel to fill the noiseless wood, but it never came. Instead Seito's sword crusted with ice, or something else, and shattered to the tang.

In the moment he took to look towards his own blade instead of his enemy's, the Edo Tenseijin swung his gigantic weapon and sliced through the air as if it were a Tanto he held. Seito screamed and his hands flew to his face; when he pulled his hands away bloody, Chiriku morbidly thought that at least in this case Seito's loss of eyesight did not make him more disadvantaged than he already was.

“For the Subetekage!” Seito yelled out, apparently finding fury where his eyesight was lost, and began to toss senbon and shuriken wildly. The man did not seem to dodge, but rather the projectiles avoided him as he stepped forward and plunged his sword through Seito's chest. Then, as if though it had been a signal, the rest of the dead moved forwards and slashed with their own weapons at his body. Their blades cut through that beautiful, expensive armor like it was made of nothing more than civilian dress. They had no concern for honor; Seito was butchered beyond death, and Chiriku held his eyes closed to the scene.

 

 

A long time later, lightheaded and nearly falling from losing grip on his kunai, Chiriku found enough courage to breathe and drop down from the tree. He chanced a look at Seito's body, and thought of how young he looked lying there dead, and the way he had fought as bravely as a man twice his age. A short distance from his body he found Seito's shattered Wakizashi and deigned to bring it back to Yorogakure as proof of what happened here. He wondered if Nauma were still guarding their packs.

Chiriku stood then, and caught sight of a shadow rising over him. When he turned, he stared into Seito's remaining eye. Black, with a single soulless pupil that barely caught the moonlight.

The ruined man, tattered and bloody, missing an eye and an arm, reached for Chiriku's throat. It was because of shock rather than fear this time, that Chiriku did not call out, and the life was squeezed from his body.

 

 

 

**KONOHAMARU**

 

Days began early in the Land of Fire, hot as their name suggests, and ended as late as the sun decided to set. Konohamaru rose earlier even than his grandfather, The Hokage, because he would join him this morning, before the civilians rose. He would see a man to justice for the first time on this day. He just turned eight years old, and would become a Genin soon.

Their party was running through the trees to an outpost a good few miles outside the village gates. Kiba told him they were going to torture and execute a white there, which terrified Konohamaru greatly, but he refused to show it. “Why would Hokage-sama bother torturing a white?” Shino had said, “They do not speak.” Kiba laughed and bared his fangs, “True. Maybe we've caught a Baba Shindame then. They let the whites fuck them and give birth to monsters that look like just like people, but absorb your body at night if you let them into your home.”

The thought that any stranger could be a secret child of one of the dead-eyed women often came up in Konohamaru's nightmares. “It'll be neither,” Shikamaru droned. “Likely jus' some troublesome coward, thinkin' if 'e run from Yoro 'ed get'to stick 'is dick in somethin' again.” Konohamaru blushed and giggled at that, then laughed out loud when Sakura smacked Shikamaru upside his head for the language. The normalcy of the moment helped to steel Konohamaru's courage. The deep drawl and odd way Shikamaru had of speaking always seemed to soothe, but Ino said he was just too lazy to bother finishing his words proper.

When the group arrived at the moss covered building it seemed Shikamaru had been right after all, but the man behind the glass with chakra guards on his wrists wasn't anything like the stories Konohamaru was told about the Hogo-sha Shugonin. They were the protectors of everyone in Ōkoku, even the Subetekage; this man didn't look like he could protect himself.

While Konohamaru watched, trying to stay still and seem older than his eight years, a Yamanaka placed his hand on the man's head. It was easy to pick out Yamanaka clan members by their golden hair and light colored eyes. They wore their locks long and tied in a knot, a sign of age and experience. When he was younger Konohamaru complained that Ino never had to get her hair cut like he did, but his Sensei told him that it wasn't the Sarutobi way. He looked to Ino now, watching her clansman with an grim look on her face, and Chouji placed one big arm around her shoulder and whispered something in her ear. Everything got quiet when the Yamanaka closed his eyes, and then, all hell broke loose.

The Shugonin began to scream. It was a pained, desperate sound that ringed in Konohamaru's ears and made him want to cover them. Inside the glass room Ibiki, a frighteningly rough and scarred man, one of his grandfather's elite guards, rushed to grab onto the Yamanaka, and beside him Ino screeched. The Shugonin kept on with his screaming, even as the hand on his head was torn away. Medics rushed in but did not tend to the hoarse cries of the man in black, instead they surrounded the Yamanaka who lay on the floor with eyes rolled back in his head. The commotion both in front of the two-way glass and behind it unnerved Konohamaru and he began to shake, until each of his hands were taken, gentle Hinata to his left, and Naruto at his right.

As the Shugonin screeched himself hoarse and medics rushed the Yamanaka away, his grandfather slowly formed hand seals; ram, horse, dragon, and placed his palm on the prisoner's chest. The screams stopped.

 

 

On the run back to the village Sasuke ran up beside him and asked, “Did you see the hand seals Hokage-sama used?”

“Ram, horse, dragon,” Konohamaru replied.

“And what was the technique?”

“Doton. Doryūdan.”

It was the earth dragon bullet, he knew, though Konohamaru had never seen it used on a person before. Sasuke hn-ed and Konohamaru supposed that meant he was right, the Uchiha was always testing him on hand seals and jutsu. “The man is dead now, certainly, whichever technique was used. Only time will tell about the Yamanaka,” he muttered. Sasuke focused on him once again, “Do you know why the medics came for him, Konohamaru-sama.” He shook his head.

“It can kill us,” Ino chimed in sullenly. “To break the mind-transfer jutsu that way. He was my uncle, and now he will most likely never speak again.” Konohamaru had a newfound respect for what Ino's clan did, he had not known how much they risked each time they used their Kekkei-Genkai.

“It'll be best for you to consider him dead now, Ino.” Sasuke said to her, “There is no place for a ninja like that.”

“Shut the hell up you asshole! It isn't hopeless like that! Ino, your uncle could still make it, he can still be a ninja! Right, Sakura?”

Naruto was Konohamaru's favorite of the Hokage's Rookie Nine. He was clanless, but his grandfather had taken him in anyways and given him the name Uzumaki for the old, lost friends of Konoha. He knew the Konohajin had no love for the clanless, especially one among the Rookie Nine, but Naruto made Konohamaru laugh, and he was brave and kind to him when the others saw him as nothing more than a Sarutobi.

Sakura knew many things about medicine, as the Haruno clan tended the sick in the Land of Fire for thousands of years, but she simply shook her head and looked down at the ground. Konohamaru found Naruto's deep frown contagious. Kiba ran up from behind them then, and loudly challenged the others to race. They were glad for the distraction, but Konohamaru would not be able to keep up so he lagged behind to travel beside his grandfather.

 

 

“Konohamaru. Are you alright, grandson? You seem troubled, after this morning.”

“I'm fine, grandfather. But that Yamanaka man. Sasuke-san says he should die now, and won't be a ninja anymore.”

“And what do you think, Konohamaru?”

“Well, he seemed hurt, surely. But everyone says Hayate-san's lungs don't work right, and I saw a Kiri-nin one time who was missing an eye.”

“These things are true, my boy.” The Hokage told him, “True, but quite different. It is important that you know this; a ninja's strength will not just come from his body, as you have pointed out. Hayate, it is fact that he breathes poorly, and cannot run the way other shinobi do; it is twice as difficult for him to do the things the others find quite simple. The Kiri-nin you saw taught himself to see again without the eye, but will always have a blind spot others can exploit.” His grandfather coughed lightly into his hand before continuing. “This Yamanaka, however, has lost something a ninja absolutely cannot be without. The mind is the true strength of all people. Santa Yamanaka will be shinobi no more without his.”

Konohamaru understood in the way an eight year old can, but it was a difficult lesson, and he thought of Naruto's words. “But what about the Will of Fire, grandfather? Isn't it in the heart? Couldn't he still be a shinobi as long as he still has that, at least?”

For some reason, the old man began to laugh at that, and smiled but said nothing. Konohamaru worried that the whispers of civilians had truth to it, and the Hokage was becoming strange of mind in his old age. His thoughts were disturbed by Naruto, who ran out in front of them shouting. “Old man! Konohamaru! Come and see what we found!”

Ibiki ran up beside his grandfather then, “They've gotten into some mischief then, Hokage-sama?”

“Ah, if there were any to found,” the Hokage replied, “I'm sure it wouldn't go undiscovered by that lot.”

 

 

They came upon the Rookie Nine beside a stream, huddled around a mound of dirt of logs and chattering excitedly. In his excitement, Konohamaru ran ahead to see what the commotion was about. “Stay back Konohamaru-sama!” Ibisu, the glorified babysitter that Konohamaru found it difficult to love, grabbed him by the back of his shirt, but not before he saw the tiny creatures curled together in the den.

“Wh-what are they, Hokage-sama?”

Quite clearly shocked, the old man only gasped when he came upon the group. Ibiku responded for him, “Bijuu. Eight of them, it looks like. We have been truly blessed to find them now when they're so new to the world. We will kill them here, and will save Ōkoku a great many days of agony for doing it.” The scarred man drew a kunai and began to walk towards the group. A chorus of cries to stop from the girls, and Konohamaru, held him back, and he looked to his Hokage.

“A bijuu has not been seen alive since the Shodaime's time. How might they have come to be here now?”

“Here, Hokage-sama,” came another of his elite's voices from a few feet away. “Seems to be a stone fell here and broke open their pod.” His grandfather frowned at the sight of what looked to be an ordinary plant, crushed beneath a simple bit of rock that must have rolled down from the cliff side.

“Ibiki is right, Konohamaru, children. The bijuu are dangerous creatures, it will be best for us to kill them now.” Konohamaru frowned deeply at his grandfather's words.

“Please, old-man Hokage. There are eight of them, and eight clan children made Genin this generation.” Naruto made a point, and Konohamaru understood that it only stood because he left himself, clanless, out of the equation. “There hasn't been more than two Rookie squads in ten generations. It's a sign. They should each have a bijuu.”

“And what of the ninth Rookie, Naruto?” The Hokage said, “Do you not wish to care for one of the creatures?”

“I've got no clan,” He replied sadly, but steeled himself in certainty. “I've got no right to care for one.”

“I'll care for it diligently, Hokage-sama! Please, don't let them be killed.”

“They are not simple pets, Sakura-chan. They will grow and become forces of nature. Matured bijuu have destroyed entire villages in history.”

“Not if we teach them ourselves from this age.” It was a bit odd to see Kiba acting so seriously. “Besides, Hokage-sama, they won't mature for many long years right?”

“Hm. If 'ey get troublesome then, we cn' put 'em down at that time, easy.”

The Hokage chuckled. “It will be a great deal of effort, to tend to these creatures. Are even you up to that, Shikamaru?” Shikamaru only nodded tersely and looked away. “You all must know that it is likely they die if it was not yet their time to be born. A wonder the civilians think me soft-hearted, I won’t take the looks in your eyes. This is the way it will be then; one to each of you, and the responsibility that comes with it. Let me see them.”

 

 

The Hokage knelt down in front of the nest with no small amount of pain as his knees were going with age, and began to pull the tiny creatures out. “Ah. This one is simple. A slug with six tails. Sakura, take it. The sigil of the Haruno clan.” He took the bijuu in his hands and handed it to Sakura, who placed it in the cook of her arm, atop her sleeve and smiled.

“You'll want handkerchief, Hokage-sama. It’s best not to handle a slug directly without one.”

The Hokage wiped his palms on his pants and nodded, reaching within to pull out another. “Come here now, Shino-kun. The Aburame clan will be pleased to see their heir with a type of bug no one alive has ever seen before.” The bijuu his grandfather held had seven wing-like tails, and Konohamaru thought that it was severely lacking in the endearing qualities the others had, but certainly was unique as far as creepy-crawlies went. “Do try to protect it from some of the more,” The old man trailed off to find delicate words, “ _Scientifically_ -minded members of your family.”

Everyone said that the Aburame were of a strange breed, but Konohamaru noticed that despite his covered eyes, Shino seemed just as excited as the other Rookies. “Why is this creature so beautiful to me, Hokage-sama? Because it is no bug, but a beetle, and I will care for her so that she might become the Aburame's greatest pride.”

The Hokage sent Shino off with a small smile and turned back to the nest. “This one here has a certain look in its eyes. Kiba-kun, come and hold out your hands. I couldn't say what it is, a small horse, perhaps?” The creature made a noise as it dangled from his hands, and Kiba came quickly to take it from him.

“You're pretty cute,” Kiba said, holding it up to get a good look, “Despite the horns and the five tails... and the freaky-lookin’ face. You’re heavy too; sit here so I don't have to carry you around all the time.” Kiba placed the creature on top of his head and pulled his hood over it; the bijuu closed it eyes, nested itself within his hair and promptly fell asleep.

“A strong one I see,” His grandfather said of the next odd creature he grabbed. “Eight-tailed with the head of an Ox. Ino-chan, this Gyūki will grow to protect you savagely if he is cared for well, just as you will grow to protect him.” The creature had a purple-ish tinge, and when Ino came to take it in her arms, still solemn from the day's events, it used the suckers on its many tails to climb on to her back and latch itself there like a knapsack.

“Thank you, Hokage-sama.” She bowed deeply with a smile on her face.

Konohamaru decided that this was all very exciting business, and began to guess at which bijuu his grandfather might give to each of the Rookie Nine. “Look here! The color of its fur! Bright red and pale skinned, the colors of the Akimichi.”

“For Chouji-san! Right, grandfather?” Konohamaru asked with a giggle.

The Hokage grunted picking the bijuu that looked like a tiny ape up. “That right Konohamaru, and he is a hearty one too. He will grow large, and strong to boot.” Chouji seemed to be nearly in tears with his joy, and had none of the trouble with the creature's weight that the Hokage did.

“I'll treat him as I would my own son,” Chouji replied, “And name him Gokū, after the most important food.”

Shikamaru chuckled then, “Think ya mean, Go- _han_ , Chouji. But Gokū seems about right, after all.”

Distracted by a quiet grunting sound his grandfather made, Konohamaru looked to the old man and saw that he was attempting to pull another bijuu from its nest, but having none too simple a time since the thing was gripping onto the soft ground covering for dear life.

“Well it seems someone wasn't quite ready to get up yet.” His grandfather chuckled as he managed to release its grip. “Seems to be some type of turtle, I'd say.”

Then Shikamaru was standing beside the Hokage with arms outstretched looking bored. “I cn' figure out where this's goin' Hokage-sama.”

“Ahh of course, that old saying; a Nara knows your plan before you even think it yourself.” The bijuu's legs dangled limply in the air as it was handed by its spiked shell to Shikamaru, who balanced it on his palm in front of his face.

“Well, yr' lookin' 'bout as awake 's I feel. Can't be bothered to carry ya though, so y'r 'gonna haf' ta walk.” The thing made a guttural yawning noise and breathed a gust of air out of its nostrils in Shikamaru's face, apparently quite intent on ignoring the boy completely. “Troublesome,” He muttered, and placed it on the ground at his feet. Konohamaru genuinely thought it might just lie down in that spot with no care for where its siblings had gone, but as Shikamaru walked away it seemed contented enough to hobble along beside him at the same leisurely pace.

It was obvious to Konohamaru that the blue cat with black markings would be passed to Hinata; he watched his grandfather pick it up gingerly and beckon the girl over to him. “Hinata-chan, when you master the twin lion fists of the Hyūga clan, this creature will stand beside you, its own twin tails glowing as a match to your chakra.” The tiny thing shivered, clearly discomforted at being handled, until Hinata placed it inside of her jacket and held it close to her body. “Seems a bit frightened, that one,” The Hokage told her, “Give it some matatabi from the gardens outside the hospital. That should warm it up to you quickly and calm its nerves as well.” The gratitude was blatant in the girl’s eyes, though she seemed at a loss for words, only nodding before heading off on her own, pale eyes never leaving the thing in her arms.

There was a single bijuu left in the den, and Konohamaru sat on the ground to watch as Sasuke spoke with his grandfather. The thing looked angry, and bared its teeth when they came closer. It might have almost been a menacing picture, were it not quite so tiny and round.

“Do you know what kind of animal this is, Sasuke?”

“It’s a tanuki, Hokage-sama. Are you certain it’s even one of the bijuu? The others had multiple tails and odd features.” Sasuke seemed to have doubts, and looked at his charge somewhat warily. “Its temperament is... quite unlike the others as well.” Konohamaru was hard pressed to disagree with Sasuke’s evaluation, as the tanuki nipped and growled at his grandfather’s hands while he held it.

“Hmm. The tanuki is a cunning creature, Sasuke-kun. They are known to be ruthless tricksters, with no love for the simple-minded.” The Hokage held out his arms, gesturing for Sasuke to take the thing from him. “The old folks thought of these animals as malicious, evil things. Bad omens. It isn’t so today though; the children of blacksmiths and merchants turned him into an ambassador of wealth and careless joy.” He seemed to consider his own words for a moment before continuing. “Yes, I think he suits you well.”

Not even the deadly glare of an Uchiha could stop Konohamaru from choking out a sharp sound of laughter then. “Careless joy, grandfather? Sasuke-san?” The boy in question was unimpressed and turned his head towards Konohamaru, arms still outstretched with the tanuki between his hands, to level him with a look that only served to prove him right.

“Sasuke, the tanuki is a creature of change and mystery. He seems a bit, unsettled, at the moment,” A gross understatement, Konohamaru thought. “But he was protecting his siblings with the type of ferocity I have seen a match for in your own eyes. He is judged poorly and misunderstood because of the family he belongs to, but became a symbol of something greater for the next generation. With his single tail and demeanor I take him for a leader.” At this, Sasuke might have looked at the thing in his grasp with less of a glare and a bit more interest. “I say again, Sasuke-kun, I believe he suits you well.”

 

 

Nearly the moment the group began to run back to the village, bijuu in tow, Naruto stopped so suddenly that a distracted Hinata collided with his back and fell on the ground. “I’m so sorry, Hina-chan!” He helped her up before getting a stupid look on his face and nearly dropping her back down just as quickly. “Hey! You’re a Hyūga Hina-chan!”

“Well observed, idiot.” Sasuke’s tanuki seemed a bit calmer now, though still definitely perturbed, and Konohamaru thought it was just a little bit hilarious that both it and its caretaker looked at Naruto in the same way.

“Shut up, asshole.” He turned back to Hinata, “Can’t you feel that, Hina-chan? Somewhere around here there’s chakra. Can no one else feel that?” Naruto was met with a round of varyingly disinterested shrugs before Hinata found her footing and spoke up.

“I can h-help you, Naruto-kun. Byakugan!”

Konohamaru feared the Hyūga Shukun and clan members when he was younger, their eyes unlike any other he had seen made him think of monsters and nightmares. It wasn't until he met Hinata that he began to view the clan differently, but they were still a rather solitary sort of people and he was too young to understand the way felt with Hiashi-sama's judging gaze upon him. Even seeing Hinata-chan now and knowing her gentleness first-hand, the veins and stern brow when she activated the Byakugan made Konohamaru startle a bit in discomfort before he caught himself and relaxed.

“T-there Naruto-kun! Beneath that log!”

Naruto raced off towards where Hinata pointed, and everyone could his short bark of laughter before he bent down. “Old-man, I guess we missed one!” He called out before running over with a tiny orange bundle in his arms. “Look at this guy! Umm, what is it?”

The Hokage looked and grinned. “Kitsune, Naruto-kun. He is a fox. Nine-tailed, so obviously a bijuu, but he was so far from the others. A curious one, I think. Perhaps he simply wanted to explore.”

“Or maybe the others kicked the runt out.” Sasuke said.

“So what if they did! I'll protect him now. Even if he was trying to trick me into thinking I was gonna be left out.” Naruto looked at the thing with absolute adoration in his eyes. “You won't pull the wool over my eyes again, Kurama. We're partners now.”

 


End file.
